The VTCS m756a2 Pipeline Truck

[Fredo Corleone]

At the 2017 GMMVC Rally

 

[Another Ahab]

At the 2017 GMMVC Rally

View attachment 689085

It must have won a prize, or honorable mention, or three cheers, or something!

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Some more pics of the pipeline truck in use in the last few months. It's only had one job, helping get my landing craft project and bridge truck home. The whole story of that is in it's own thread:
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?169941-1969-LCVP-(Landing-Craft-Vehicle-Personnel)

For being fairly lightweight the gin poles surprisingly were able to lift the front of the truck off the ground while they were at a pretty good angle, without any bending or damage. The crane operator said the weight of the LCVP was at 18k and that was with the stern not up off the blocks yet, but with some weight taken up. It wasn't able to lift the front half all at once but would lift a corner at a time.


The 20,000lb winch on the back made loading the 33,000lb bridge truck easy, a hydraulic brake lock setup is still on the list for situations like this.


Other than that the truck has had the fuel gauge replaced with a working one, cable pull air tank drain valves installed, and it will get new alternator belts soon as those tore apart on the way back from the bridge truck loadout.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Just enough height to transfer an s250/g shelter from an m103 to an m105a2.


We'll finally get some new belts installed this week as the truck needs to be back on the road for this weekend.

 

[cattlerepairman]

I would not even know what to lift with such a truck...until I got one...then I would probably forget how I ever managed without one! Your truck looks benign but is a serious piece of kit.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

I would not even know what to lift with such a truck...until I got one...then I would probably forget how I ever managed without one! Your truck looks benign but is a serious piece of kit.

We thought the same thing until we actually started using the truck. If it wasn't our friend George's favorite deuce then it was second in line behind his m275a2. We said we'd take it because of that, because if we were going to have one it might as well be an uncommon one, and because it was offered at a fair price.

At the start of the thread I said we'd use it as a novelty for lifting in the yard, but after we started using it it's proven to be a pretty useful truck. It's been really helpful with projects in the last year and a half; and the fact that it's back in the same yard 20 years later and still with VTCS markings is pretty neat in my opinion.

At least it didn't end up getting bobbed... or scrapped out.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

With some new alternator belts the truck's back on the road to do the heavy lifting, like this 12v71 Detroit. We also changed out the 30 year old air compressor belt while we were at it.

 

[Fredo Corleone]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-U1pNqLOig

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Yesterday and today we had the pipeline truck over at another SS member's place to move some dump bodies around. The weather has been pretty nice but some heat would be nice for defrost in the morning. Maybe next year we'll get around to installing that stuff.

The orange body went from the pallets to a trailer so it can go get fixed up elsewhere. The m756 had very little weight on the front axle with this one on the hook, the steering wheel could be turned with one finger at a standstill.


We used the truck to lift the bed up and down after removing the hydraulic cylinder on the yellow one and then lifted it off the chassis today. It's ready for the scrapyard so it was loaded on another trailer to get it there. This one seemed a fair bit lighter than the other.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

I haven't updated this thread for a while since nothing too exciting has been happening with the pipeline truck. Some pics of it lifting in the yard this year:

Also here's some closer up pictures of the trunnion used to join the gin poles together. There are at least a couple trucks out there that could use a newly manufactured one of these if we can ever figure out how to get it done for a reasonable price.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

At some point I'll have to bolt some wood blocks to the face of the rear winch. They're shown in the TM, I guess they're to protect the winch from something sliding into it when the headboard isn't on. A friend's 1969 m756a2 still has them. The 1970 truck probably should have them too, although the 1969 still has the extra splined output on the driver's side of the winch for a capstan which is absent on the 1970 so there are some differences.

While I was there I managed to buy one more piece of the BII from him, a stake pocket adapter for the gin poles.

Which means we now have a set of two.

I guess we'll have to rig the poles off the side of the truck next.

 

[pigpen60]

Nice truck!

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Nice truck!

Thanks. There is still plenty of work to get done on it but we're making progress slowly.


Yesterday I started trying to remove the pins that hold the gin poles to the truck. They bolt on from the outside, there's no way to get to them from underneath the truck and nothing to grab with a puller or anything like that. Trying to spin them with a spanner didn't work at all. I welded a couple nuts to one and hooked up a chain binder figuring it would ratchet right out. Nope.

Left it like that overnight and it didn't budge. Today I welded a deuce lugnut to each one and got them out by spinning them with an impact gun. Then we rigged up the gin poles off the side:

They need to be heading uphill a bit for the winch to lift them, we used a ladder to keep prop them up. With some cable tension on them they popped up with a little more help. We rigged it using both bed anchors.

A PE95 isn't too heavy at 1500lbs but the truck still has a pretty good lean without the outrigger down.


That was a lot of work just to get a few pics. I can see why the stake pocket adapters are usually missing.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

A pic of the pipeline truck from probably around 20 years ago. It looks almost exactly the same as it did when it showed up in 2016.

Looks like it’s about time to repaint the barn.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Do you have the canvas for it? Seeing how it doesn't have sides, it must have a special set of bows.

 

[Fredo Corleone]

The canvas that is in the picture is just a regular deuce canvas, the sides are in one of our storage containers with the troop seats and bows. The truck works every week so it is easier to leave them off.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Do you have the canvas for it? Seeing how it doesn't have sides, it must have a special set of bows.

The bows are just regular deuce bows but the tops are narrower for the narrower bed. Some day we'll get the bed sides, side racks, and bows all done since we have it all, just need to find the time.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Looks like the pipeline truck was originally sold from Picatinny Arsenal in 1994. The VIN info on the truck showed it was last used in NJ so that makes sense.
That'd be a good price nowadays...

 

[tommys2patrick]

This is just such an awesome truck. I love seeing it rigged out and you using it. I have seen Gin trucks used in oil and forestry but it seems rough terrain forklifts have replaced a lot of the applications. Still, I lust after your truck and shamelessly love it.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Lifting the box off an m128a2c trailer with the help of a forklift: